The
Future of AstrologyArticle Published in
The Int Astrologer Vol XXIX, no 3, Fall 2000 - by Joyce Hoen DF Astrol S

Some time
ago there was a discussion among astrologers about the planet
ruling Astrology. Some people thought Uranus rules astrology,
but there were many who came up with every conceivable planet
under the Sun and beyond it, I think maybe with exception of
the Moon. Nobody apparently thought that the Moon rules
astrology and neither do I of course, but it was amazing to
see people come up with all the other planets.

How can any other planet BUT Uranus rule Astrology I ask
myself? Uranus is the quick mind, the process of distancing
oneself (i.e. jumping to another planet and then observe from
the outside in..) and of awareness. Aquarius, the sign under
rulership of Uranus has a boundless interest in people,
notably, in the minds of people, in what makes people tick. If
we look for instance at the caring professions, we can easily
see that nursing belongs to Neptune and Pisces, psychology to
Pluto and Scorpio, and psychiatry to Uranus and Aquarius. This
interest in how the human mind functions and from there, in
consciousness itself, is the center of astrology. Most people
do admit that astrology made them more conscious of themselves.
So becoming aware and the process of Awakening, all these
Uranian processes, are the plain and simple result of
astrology. But also: deconditioning, standing apart from what
is generally told and learning to think for yourself. This
element of becoming yourself, this element of finding your own
unique qualities, all this is one of the main gifts of
Astrology! Uranus is the planet of individuation and
Astrology's purpose may well be individuation.

In Greek mythology Uranus was the god of the sky (Ouranos),
and reigns everything to do with the sky: from spaceships to
astronomy to astrology. Astrology uses the solar system as its
basis, and thus it looks at the"sky" to learn
something about ourselves. Really, we are not contemplating
astrology floating in a boat on top of the sea or even below
sealevel, we look up, towards the sky, with astrology. As much
as Neptune may be the "Answer" to Uranus, in reality
it is Uranus which is the planet ruling astrology.

On the spiritual path we could speak of the process of
Awakening, first the waking up from the sacred beliefs of the
status quo and of what others tell us. But waking up too much
and asking oneself too many questions can eventually lead to
isolation from those around you. Precisely at that point
Neptune enters the stage, as the next step on this spiritual
path, because Neptune denotes Compassion. The compassion of
Neptune comes from the notion that we all are One, and this
does fit the symbol of the ocean, the mothersea, where all of
us belong to and are part of. So Neptune will provide one with
a higher state of connectedness, after the isolation of Uranus.
Poeple often say that astrologers live in ivory towers, and
indeed this is the danger of Uranus. Most professionally
working astrologers do work in absolute isolation, alone, and
indeed it is high time that we generate support groups for one
another, the true Aquarian/Uranian way: forming groups
guaranteeing the respect for the individual.

NEPTUNE IN AQUARIUSIf we look at the planet Uranus and the sign of
Aquarius at this moment in history, two things come to the
fore which are very significant for the developments in the
Western World vis-a-vis astrology as a whole. To start with
Aquarius: the planet Neptune is inspiring this sign ever since
1998 and will stay there up until 2012, so we have 12 years of
"Neptune-in-Aquarius' to go! Neptune is the planet of
everything which has no boundaries, and concretely this does
mean that indeed there are no borders, that everything is open
to everyone. When Neptune transitted Sagittarius in the 70ķes,
higher education became open for everyone. (Open universities
for example). When Neptune transitted Capricorn, the world of
investing as well as 'design' (functional form) became
fashionable and accessible to all. In fact, astrologers all of
a sudden appeared with design letterheads and they all of a
sudden took on the look of the professional (Capricorn).
Because yes, Neptune rules fashion. And when Neptune started
to transit Aquarius, the sign of astrology itself, the
computer became accessible for everyone (computers and
electronics -- this flashing mind-idea of Uranus -- also are
ruled by Uranus to a large extent).
So Astrology is fashionable (Aquarius) for the mainstream
(Neptune) right now and don't we notice it in the enormous
growth in demand for astrology everywhere!

Of course, the flipside of Neptune in Aquarius with respect to
astrology, is that Neptune also can water down everything, and
popularize it to such an extent, that all is accessible on
mainstream level, i.e. the horoscopes which so many websites
now promote and which in reality have nothing to do with
serious astrology of course. If Uranus rules astrology, it
indeed is no longer in the serious sign of Capricorn but it
has also arrived in the acceleration timewarp of Aquarius, the
computer age, made virtual by Neptune as well, and thus quick
and fast and not necessarily serious on many (website) fronts.

ASTROLOGY AND URANUS THROUGH THE SIGNSIf we look at Uranus' transits through the signs, it
is obvious that when Uranus passes through a 'yin' sign of the
zodiac, astrology deepens and becomes more introverted, and
each time when Uranus transits through a 'yang' sign of the
zodiac, seven years later, astrology becomes extrovert and
changes from low profile to high profile in the outer world.
Uranus obviously is in a 'yang' sign right now! Because of the
84-year cycle of Uranus, each transit through a sign will last
7 years. If we look at the recent history of astrology,
keyword style, it is fascinating to see how astrology adapted
the coloring of the sign it was transitting in!

LIBRA 1969-1975 approx: flower power astrology was born.

SCORPIO 1975-1981: the timeframe of indepth study and the
birthplace of modern approaches of depth psychology in
astrology (Liz Greene, Dane Rudhyar). Astrological research (another
Scorpio thing) was strong in those days too (Michel Gauquelin,
and Dean and Mathers with their "Recent Advances in Natal
Astrology").

SAGITTARIUS 1981-1988: more and more congresses as well as
books became available, and the current astrologyschools at
least on the continent where I live were born in those days.
In 1981 we had the first "International" (Sagittarius)
conference in astrology in Switzerland, followed by the UAC
conferences in America. This trend culminated in 1988 with the
Saturn-Uranus conjunction.

CAPRICORN 1989-1995: Many attempts at internal organizations
were made, and in general astrologers tried to provide a basis
for more solidity professionally speaking. Financial astrology
was born, and astrologers started to work from offices rather
than the backroom in their houses.

AQUARIUS: 1996-2003: then the acceleration started, and
astrology and the internet was born. A humanistic astrology
also fits this timeframe by the way. We do not have much time
left to form support groups in astrology, this is the time to
do it! Up until the end of 2003, when Uranus will leave
Aquarius, we can truly profit from an old Aquarian ideal, and
an ideal situation for astrologers: belonging in freedom to a
greater whole. The internet indeed provides us with exactly
that which we always wanted: a supportgroup, but each in our
OWN time, not dictated by the timing of other people. What
more can we really want?

PISCES: from 2004 onwards: the immediate FUTURE of astrology
from 2004 onwards looks quite watery again, Uranus will then
again be in a YIN-sign, a more intuitive sign, and a more
medically attuned sign. Visual communication is likely to
become accelerated too in these years to come. Rationality
will make place for intuitive perception in astrology, and it
may not be until Uranus enters Aries, which only occurs in
2010, that we become interested in astrological technique and
chartcalculation again after this Piscean period.. In fact, by
the end of Uranus'passage through Pisces, there may not be
many people left who actually know how to calculate a chart
themselves... :-)
Spiritual forms of astrology as well as medical astrology will
be the positive outcomes of Uranus in Pisces. With Pisces
knowing no boundaries, we may also experience a massive
burglary of copyrights by the way, so be aware that you do not
become one of those astrologers who, brought up by the ease of
availability of information in these internet times, thinks
nothing of stealing some information for yourself.

ASTROLOGERS & URANUS IN THE SIGNSIf we take a quick look at the charts of wellknown
astrologers, especially at the sign where Uranus is placed in
in their charts, it is incredible to see how much the
astrology of these individuals is colored by this
signplacement also.
Again in keywordstyle:

URANUS IN ARIES: the statistician Michel Gauquelin and also
Robert Carl Jansky (known for amongst others his technical
information about eclipses) were born with Uranus in Aries.

URANUS IN TAURUS: William Lilley, who probably earned a good
living as an astrologer doing horaries as well as the
productive Noel Tyl (production is also Taurus), were born
with Uranus in Taurus.

URANUS IN GEMINI: Alan Leo, the first international "networker"
in astrology who started with his Astrological Magazine and
helped many other countries set this up too, was born with
Uranus in Gemini. The current generation of top astrologers
also were born with this communicative Astrology quality,
writing, speaking everywhere, and doing readings: Alan Oken,
Jeff Jawer, Raymond Merriman and so on and so forth. Funny,
all these are names of men. Uranus is in a "yang"
placement here. But it would soon be followed by a yin-sign:

URANUS IN CANCER: and lo and behold, the first well known
female astrologer of the recent history, Evangeline Adams, was
born with Uranus in Cancer. So is Karen Hamaker-Zondag by the
way. Uranus-in-Cancer astrologers are also astrologers very
much occupied with the deconditioning process.

URANUS IN LEO is a sign of leadership and creation in
astrology, in Holland the well known astrologer Thierens who
led the way for Dutch astrology is a good example of this.

URANUS IN VIRGO is found in charts of many people who
contributed with detailed and/or technical information for the
world of astrology, such as Elsbeth Ebertin, Tycho Brahe,
Wilhelm Knappich and Leo Knegt in Holland again. Elsbeth
Ebertin specifically was instrumental for the anatomical
correlations of the zodiac. Virgo does deal with medical
analysis. Many astrologers born in the 60ķes are born with
Uranus in Virgo, and they may feel in part, needs for
improvement technically and on the level of astrology as a
true helping profession.

URANUS IN LIBRA was found with amongst others in the charts of
Charles Carter and Marc Edmund Jones, and no doubt, these were
people who brought people together in astrology.

URANUS IN SCORPIO was found in the charts of three of the most
influential astrologers of the last century, and also
astrologers whom many find "difficult" : Dane
Rudhyar, and in Germany: Thomas Ring and Walter Koch.

URANUS IN SAGITTARIUS was found in the chart of an astrologer
who wrote a bestseller with the title: 'Heaven Knows What',
Grant Lewi. It is a title that is being reprinted and
reprinted and certainly contributed to the spread (Sagittarius)
of astrology! And this title itself is such an incredible
metaphor for Uranus & Sagittarius: Heaven (Uranus) Knows
What (Sagittarius).

URANUS IN CAPRICORN was found in the chart of Charles Jayne
amongst others: his "Horoscope Interpretation Outlined"
denotes a good structuring approach of astrology, where
Capricorn is famous for. One of Holland's most wellknown
female astrologers of the last century, Mellie Uyldert, was
also born with Uranus in Capricorn. Capricorn indeed is a
yin-sign, a female sign.

URANUS IN AQUARIUS was found in the charts of many astrologers
who invented their own systems: Morin de Villefranche, Edith
Wangeman, to name but a few. But also Alexander Ruperti,
advocate of Humanistic Astrology, was born with Uranus in
Aquarius.

And then to look at those astrologers born with Uranus in
Pisces, because these also could tell us about the immediate
future of astrology. Unfortunately, the first two examples I
did find in a book were those of an astrologer pretty
wellknown for his addiction to alcohol, and of another one who
plagiarized a lot. These indeed are the less fortunate
outcomes of Pisces on lower levels. But whom did I encounter
also? Nostradamus (Michel le Nostradame), maybe the world's
most famous "clairvoyant" in astrology, and, a
medical doctor by profession. An esoteric astrologer with
Uranus in Pisces is also Douglas Baker, and a mystic is
Theodor Landscheidt. Sydney Omarr is a prototype of the
popularization of astrology, which is like Neptune in Aquarius
-- indeed Uranus in Pisces is a reverse signature of Neptune
in Aquarius. (Uranus and Neptune will be in reception from
2004!) John Addey was another mystic with Uranus in Pisces.
Some idealists were found also: Marion March, Louise Huber and
Zipporah Dobyns.

So, in simply looking at the planet whom I truly believe to be
the purest "ruler" of astrology some general trends
of the past were easily found, and from this some indications
as to what awaits us can be seen also.